Blendr is a free, location-based app that allows you to see the whereabouts of nearby singles using GPS before connecting with them via private chat.

Blendr is a free, location-based app that allows you to see the whereabouts of nearby singles using GPS before connecting with them via private chat.

Photo: Blendr

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BLENDR LLC
MEET UP: Blendr is a free, location-based app that allows you to see the whereabouts of nearby singles using GPS before connecting with them via private chat.

BLENDR LLC
MEET UP: Blendr is a free, location-based app that allows you to see the whereabouts of nearby singles using GPS before connecting with them via private chat.

Photo: Blendr

Image 3 of 4

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Meeting women with an app

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The world - according to men's dating guides, anyway - is crawling with single women. Whether you're perusing the grocery aisle, surfing your smartphone at Starbucks or jogging through Memorial Park, you are allegedly surrounded by lusty singles.

If only, in some distant and risk-free sextopia, you could look at a map to see the location and photos of the nearby singles before dropping them a line to meet up. Well, gentlemen, the future has arrived … minus the risk-free part, of course. People still have sexually transmitted diseases, I'm told.

Said sex map is courtesy of Blendr, a free, location-based app available on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch that allows you to see the whereabouts of nearby single folks using GPS before connecting with them via private chat. Users create a simple profile featuring a photo and a brief description of themselves. Then they can choose from a long list of interests - everything from liking cats to being a Jehovah's Witness. The app then shows other users who share your fine-tuned interests, have recently logged in and are within a few hundred feet of you.

The app was developed by the creators of Grindr, an immensely popular social media app for homosexual men. Released in 2009, Grindr has attracted 2.6 million users in nearly 200 countries, according to company figures. By making it easier than ever to hook up, it has even been accused of heralding the end of gay bar culture.

When the Blendr app debuted in September, the company, no doubt trying to address the differences between gay and straight dating culture, tried to couch its new product in fluffy social language. A company spokesman said it was too early to release the number of downloads, but said the top three countries using the app so far are the U.S., Britain and Australia.

"Social networking just got 'social' and there's no easier way to meet new people that share your interests than with Blendr," said Joel Simkhai, Blendr's founder and CEO.

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Especially - Simkhai should have noted with a wink - if those interests involve having sex. That's because most people already have a way of meeting people with common interests - it's called talking. We do it all the time … with coworkers when we're supposed to be working; at the car wash when the old woman shows you pictures of her grandkids; with strangers when you're drunkenly downing a food-truck burrito at 3 a.m. on the weekend.

What straight people haven't had, until now, is an HOV lane to hooking up that isn't illegal and dependent upon a monetary exchange. The only problem (and it's kind of a big one) is whether any women out there want to buy a pass.

More Information

With Blendr, users can:

Browse for users by location, your favorites, those you've chatted with recently or those currently online.

Tap a photo to check out user profiles, photos, interests and more.

Filter users by interest categories, such as Entertainment, Sports, Language, Profession, and more.

Check-in to nearby venues and keep up on the trending spots by seeing who else has also checked in (iOS only).

Start a private instant message conversation via Blendr chat.

Check your new friends' latest photos.

- P.H.

BLENDR

Free

Available from the IOS App Store, from blendr.com or as a Facebook app